Computers In Life Essay Research Paper A

Computers In Life Essay, Research Paper

A man wakes up in the morning to the sound of his digital alarm clock and immediately checks his e-mail. He turns on the television, which has a V-chip to keep his children from watching what may be violent. He gets dressed, gets in his car, and drives to work where he works as the network administrator at a local steel company. It is amazing all of the things this man uses in the morning alone that would not be possible if it were not for computer technology. From his alarm clock to his e-mail even to the job that pays his bills it has all been made possible by computer related technologies. This is the same situation with many people in American society today. Everything has to do with computers. The very first things that we consider “computers” were nothing more than adding machines. “Perhaps the first example of this is the abacus, known in the Orient at least as early as 600 B.C.”(Nunz 517). The abacus consists of a frame with rods that hold beads which depending on their position represent a different number. It is usually made of wood and the rods that were thought to one time have been made of bamboo. Users can add, subtract, multiply, and divide just like modern calculator (Fernandes). It all started with calculating machines and has advanced to the fast microprocessors we have today. People use computers everyday in many forms from the computer that’s in a car to a home PC. Computers have changed everyday life in the way society drives, communicates, and relaxes. Society has changed because of computer technology and it will probably never go back. One thing that is very important to most people, especially in this area, which in most cases involves a computer, is the car. This is due mostly to the lack of effective public transportation in the area. Cars get people where they need to go from the mall to work and back home again. For those fortunate enough to have year 2000 model cars there are some pretty amazing almost futuristic features. One of these is “adaptive cruise control” which monitors the car in front of the driver and brakes accordingly. This feature is in more expensive BMWs and the Mercedes-Benz S class (Car Go to the Store… 8). This should make it a little easier for those people who have to commute a great distance to and from work everyday. Ford’s new Windstar has sensors in the front and rear bumper that beep at different frequencies when the driver parks their car so that the driver does not hit anything and damage it (Car Go to the Store… 8). Now that is a car that can protect itself. “New Volkswagen Passats come with moisture-sensitive windshield wipers that turn on by themselves when it rains, or when a driver gets squeegeed at an intersection” (Car Go to the Store… 8). What does the check engine light really mean. Well it could mean nothing or it could mean that the car will never start again. There is a company called Embedded Planet that wants to help drivers find out. They have worked with the communication giant Motorola and even a bit with IBM to make a computer called the MobileGT. Embedded Planet, only a two-year-old company, has developed hardware that will communicate with the many chips in a car and give the user a clear definition of the problem. It uses a touch screen attached to the computer as an interface to control things like heating and cooling levels and even figure out why their car will not start. This could make it a lot easier for problems to be diagnosed and the demand for such a product will grow as computers advance further into society (Stacklin). Something that lots of people do from their car is visit the ATM or Automatic Teller Machines. ATMs are a marvelous example of computer technology making society’s life easier. It is much easier for someone to swipe a credit or ATM card through a machine to get money than having to go into a bank and deal with a person. An ATM is nothing but a data terminal and; like any other data terminal it is connected to, and communicates through, a host processor. The host processor is connected to the Internet, via a modem or a direct phone line, and that is how the cardholder reaches the different banking networks that may have record of their money (Bowen). The ATM has three input devices the card reader, the keypad, and the deposit slot. The card reader obviously reads the account information on the magnetic strip on the credit or ATM card. The keypad is used to input the users PIN to tell the machine what kind of transaction they want; whether its withdrawal, deposit, or balance inquiry (Bowen). The deposit slot is used to insert deposit envelopes to be deposited in the cardholder’s account. There are four output devices on the ATM; the speaker, display screen, receipt printer, and the cash dispensing mechanism. The speaker gives feedback such as beeping to tell the user to remove their card, the display screen displays prompts such as which transaction the banker wants, the receipt printer prints out a receipt of the transaction, and the cash dispensing mechanism dispenses the cash being withdrawn from the account (Bowen). All of these things are combined to help bankers communicate with their bank after hours or any other time when it’s not convenient to deal directly with a person. Although when people want to speak with others the cell phone is a great way to do so. “A cellular telephone is a movable telephone unit that allows people to commu